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Monday 18 April 2011

SENIORS CHAMPION Jimmy Deuchars





James DeucharsChairman - Grandparents Apart

James Deuchars loves to tell everyone that he was born in a Castle in June 1944. 
No, he was not of royal descent; the castle was Lennox Castle, a temporary maternity unit in Lennoxtown, at the foot of the Campsie Hills.  It really was a mental hospital, but it was turned into a maternity unit in wartime.
 
 
Jimmys family lived in the Gorbals for 4 years before moving to the north side of Glasgow. Jimmy left school at 15 and had a few labouring jobs.   At the age of 17 he joined the Territorial Army, the MT Platoon of the 5/6th Highland Light Infantry.
 
The unit was trained to ever ready status but was never mobilised. Jimmy ended up as a Lance Corporal. He took a government training course as a joiner and achieved City and Guilds Full Technical Certificate in Building.
 
Jimmy, regrettably, gave up the building trade because of arthritis at the age of 30 and spent the next 15 years as a Glasgow Hackney Cab owner driver.  Driving a Taxi-Cab in the City was/is an eye opening experience and jimmy believes that he could write a book about his experiences.  He was eventually force to give up Taxi work when his arthritis became more painful. 
Jimmy has two sons, Jim and Alan.  Their daughter, Susan, who had 2 girls, died at the age of 25.  Jimmy and Margaret are immensely proud of their sons, Jim the oldest son, is a Professor studying the brain at Leeds University and have 2 sons. Alan is a shop manager in Bath and has one son.
 
Jimmy and Margaret had had problems contacting his daughters children when their son in law remarried. They were horrified to learn that grandparents had no legal rights to their own grandchildren.  They felt that, having lost a daughter, losing the grandchildren, that had lived and bonded with them, was devastating.
 
However they managed to resolve the problem and now see the children regularly. During their struggle to resolve the problem they felt terribly alone. There was no where to go to seek advice or comfort when they needed it.  They realised that they would not like other grandparents to go through the torture they went through, without help, and so they started Grandparents Apart Self Help Group Scotland in 2001.
 
The group have achieved much in five years. When they first started the support group, grandparents were regarded as irrelevant persons, shut out by governments, social services, and other professionals that dealt with children. They have increased the profile of grandparents from an irrelevant status in grandchildrens lives to being recognised as important members of the wider family. 
Initially the groups? main focus was on the grandparents but this has now developed into focusing on the children.  Their motto is
For the sake of the Children.

 

The group has been invited to consult with, and assist the Scottish Executive in the creation of the Charter for Grandchildren, which was introduced on 4th May 2006Jimmy considered this as a huge step in the right direction.
 
The Charter states;
On occasions professional organisations such as social work departments or the courts can become involved and may have to make decisions that will have a lasting impact throughout a child's entire life. In these circumstances it is vital that the loving and supportive role that the wider family, in particular grandparents, can play is respected and protected for the child.

 
The charter goes on to say:
Family life is usually happy but sometimes there can be difficulties. These can range from family quarrels through to divorce and separation to ill health or death. During these times, the children in the family may need extra support. They may want someone to talk to, or simply a safe place where they can have fun. Grandparents can and do play a vital role in helping children to maintain some stability in their lives.

Although recognition has been achieved, Jimmy and his group will monitor the effects of the Charter for Grandchildren and continue to campaign for grandparental legal rights, for the protection of grandchildren everywhere.
 
See his web site at:

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